The field of the present invention relates to jewelry and other decorative or ornamental articles. In particular, jewelry and other decorative or ornamental articles are disclosed herein that have arrays of diffraction gratings.
A variety of decorative or ornamental articles, including jewelry items, have been described that include one or more diffraction gratings. Some of these are described in:    U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,440 entitled “High technology jewelry and fabrication of same” issued Dec. 25, 1984 to Reber;    U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,329 entitled “High technology decorative materials and fabrication of same” issued Aug. 5, 1986 to Reber;    U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,511 entitled “High technology decorative materials for watchfaces and fabrication of same” issued Feb. 16, 1988 to Reber;    U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,102 entitled “Faceted jewelry ornament with facet grooved for light diffraction” issued Mar. 18, 1997 to Nakama;    U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,842 entitled “Mask for and method of forming a character on a substrate” issued Mar. 30, 2004 to Manchester; and    U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0157667 A1 entitled “Enhancing the optical characteristics of a gemstone” published Jul. 12, 2007 in the name of Maltezos et al.
None of those references discloses jewelry or other decorative or ornamental articles having arrays of diffraction gratings, one or more of which is arranged to diffract, at one or more designed diffraction angles, substantially white light or light having a desired color composition. None of those references discloses jewelry or other decorative or ornamental articles having arrays of diffraction gratings, one or more of which is arranged to focus light it diffracts. None of those references discloses jewelry or other decorative or ornamental articles wherein light from a moving source is diffracted from a designed succession of gratings of the array that are arranged on a substantially planar surface of an article, e.g., so as to simulate the appearance of a three-dimensional faceted article illuminated by the moving light source or to provide a dynamically pleasing appearance. None of those references discloses jewelry or other decorative or ornamental articles wherein diffracted light intensity varies among gratings of the array that are arranged on a substantially planar surface of an article, e.g., so as to simulate the appearance of a three-dimensional article illuminated by a light source. None of those references discloses jewelry or other decorative or ornamental articles wherein light is scattered from boundary regions between gratings of the array. None of those references discloses jewelry or other decorative or ornamental articles having diffraction gratings formed in deformable layers on a surface of a curved or faceted article.
It may be desirable to provide jewelry or other decorative or ornamental articles having arrays of diffraction gratings that exhibit one or more of the aforementioned characteristics. In the creation of visually pleasing decorative, ornamental, or jewelry articles utilizing diffractive structures, it can be desirable to identify structures or fabrication methods that lead to robust, attractive, high-quality items while limiting, reducing, or minimizing manufacturing costs. Various diffraction grating arrangements are disclosed herein that are amenable to lower-cost fabrication methods or result in high-quality or robust decorative, ornamental, or jewelry articles bearing diffraction gratings.
The subject matter of the instant application may be related to that of U.S. provisional App. No. 60/877,901 filed Dec. 29, 2006, U.S. provisional App. No. 60/918,383 filed Mar. 16, 2007, and U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 11/967,181 filed Dec. 29, 2007. Each of said applications is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The subject matter of the instant application may be related to that of U.S. provisional App. No. 60/950,562 filed Jul. 18, 2007 and U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/175,459 filed Jul. 18, 2008. Each of said applications is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.